James Oppong-Boanuh addressing the family members
THE INSPECTOR General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, on Tuesday visited the family of Constable Emmanuel Osei, the police officer who was shot dead in a robbery incident at Adedenko, Metal Market Road near James Town earlier this week.
His visit was to commiserate with the bereaved family at their Millennium City home in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region.
Present with him were some members of the police management board and some senior police officers.
The IGP assured the family of the slain officer that the police would go all out to get the perpetrators arrested.
He debunked the assertion that the Ghana Police Service was out of touch with the realities when it came to fighting crime.
“Any security analyst will know that the West African sub-region is experiencing high wave of crime in all the countries. It does not mean we should not make anything out of it but we are doing what we can to protect Ghanaians,” he said.
He added, “We will go to whatever extent to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.”
Touching on the use of fragmentation jackets (bullet proof vests) by police officers, Mr. Oppong-Boanuh said the investigating team would also look into the reasons why an officer on duty was not wearing a bullet proof vest.
The police officer was escorting a bullion van when he was shot dead at Adedenko, Metal Market Road near James Town in Accra by a four-member gang of armed robbers.
Constable Emmanuel Osei was killed on the spot together with a trader who was selling her wares close to the scene, also identified as Efua Badu.
Badu, a mother of three, according to a witness, was shot in the head for raising an alarm but the driver, identified only as Nicholas, also sustained various degrees of injuries while a female banker identified as Grace Essel, escaped unhurt.
The rifle of the police officer, witnesses said, was taken away by the armed robbers who fled on two motorbikes together with the booty concealed in a sack.
An eyewitness narrated how two motorbikes approaching from opposite directions ambushed the bullion van and how their pillion riders got down and opened fire on the police officer and the lady who was selling her wares nearby.
The daylight armed robbery adds to others that took place at different parts of the nation’s capital. The one which occurred near the Police Headquarters particularly prompted questions about how the robbers could be so daring.
BY Linda Tenyah-Ayettey